With tickets already sold, Cubs can afford patience

But Sox need fresh influx of revenue from fans to contend right now

For the time being, Cubs prospect Anthony Rizzo remains in the minor leagues. (Brian Cassella/Tribune photo)

Of all the noise surrounding the season of Iowa Cubs slugger Anthony Rizzo, the loudest came courtesy of the click of a mouse instead of the swing of a bat.

Blame whoever runs the minor-league team's @IowaCubs Twitter account for misleading Cubs fans everywhere Sunday night into thinking Rizzo left Iowa's road game early to head to Chicago — instead of because of an injured right wrist. Blame a Cubs fan base dying of thirst for any drop of hope in a desert of despair the 2012 season has become. Blame Rizzo for being the closest thing the Cubs have to Adam Dunn despite hitting 400-foot homers 300 miles away.

The embarrassing episode the Cubs were forced to clean up Monday did more than remind us that, with Twitter, you can light a match in Memphis and feel the flame in Pittsburgh. As summer unofficially started, it also underscored how differently Chicago's two baseball teams operate inside the reality the market dictates.

Could Sox general manager Ken Williams show as much patience with a hot prospect like Rizzo as Cubs President Theo Epstein is without worrying about attendance? If Epstein were forced to appeal to his fan base in the role of ambassador as often as Williams is, wouldn't Rizzo already be on the North Side?

If Rizzo was hitting .354 with 17 home runs at Triple-A Charlotte and the Sox were the fourth-worst hitting team in the majors, like the Cubs, more pressure would exist for Williams than Epstein currently feels. It's a hypothetical but perhaps helps explain why Epstein can ignore clamoring fans wanting Rizzo the same day Williams asked Sox fans for patronage to create more roster flexibility.

"Every day that you don't fill the seats at least to a greater degree than we are, it hurts,'' Williams told reporters in Tampa.

What Williams really meant: If you want me to add a quality player in July to help chase a playoff spot, South Siders, ante up at the ticket window. If not, have you met Dylan Axelrod?

Williams has made similar appeals in the past, a byproduct of running a big-market team by small-market rules. Every one of Williams' dugout telethons carries the same message connecting tickets sold with increased payroll. In other words, if you want the Sox to consider trading for third baseman Kevin Youkilis or entering the Ryan Dempster sweepstakes, average attendance needs to increase between 5,000 and 10,000 in June. Meet you at the Frank Thomas statue.

The Sox entered Tuesday night's game the hottest team in baseball and one of the American League's biggest surprises. Only three major league teams have worse attendance. Imagine if Williams opted to go young this season. Instead of drawing 20,663 per game — still disappointing — the rebuilding Sox would have been lucky to outdraw the Kane County Cougars. Williams' win-now emphasis often creates the misperception that the Sox can't develop prospects. If homegrown closer Addison Reed saving '10 draftee Chris Sale's 15-strikeout game Monday didn't dispel that notion, nothing will.

After that victory capped a successful Memorial Day weekend, Sox Vice President Brooks Boyer said his ticket-office staff reported to work early Tuesday based on a recent surge in demand for season tickets.

"This is a likable team and people are beginning to respond,'' Boyer said.

Meanwhile, the Cubs aren't drawing as well as they would like but still average 37,332 to see one of baseball's worst teams. Honestly, the best way for Cubs fans to express their support for Rizzo is to stop buying tickets to watch a last-place team hitting .247, but that never will happen as long as the Cubs sell sunshine and beer. We all can respect the business advantages in keeping Rizzo in the minors to prevent him from accruing 172 days of major league service — he had 68 with the Padres — and becoming eligible for arbitration and free agency sooner. But we don't have to like the Cubs letting the worries of 2017 exacerbate the problems of 2012.

One hitter might not make a difference between fourth and fifth place in a lost season, but don't fans paying $140 for a bleacher seat against the Red Soxdeserve the Cubs' best shot now?

Epstein maintained that Rizzo staying in Iowa involves issues related to development, not arbitration. I still believe in Epstein's plan for the Cubs Way more than I buy that answer. The Cubs are in no hurry to bring up Rizzo because Epstein is immune to the market challenges Williams faces with the Sox every day.

While Epstein can get away with asking Cubs Nation to wait until 2014, Williams can't avoid asking Sox fans the question every GM dreads: Visa or Mastercard?